At this moment, the vines had extended so far that even with Li Xun's current cultivation level, he couldn't control them flexibly.
However, Li Xun had anticipated this. He kept his hands steady, and suddenly, a humanoid wooden sculpture bulged out from his back. This sculpture, as if alive, broke free from his back in the blink of an eye and transformed into another living Li Xun standing on the spot.
The clone stretched its body, nodded at Li Xun with a smile, and then quickly descended into the ground along the vines using Wood Release.
Considering the distance to the destination was too far, Li Xun created four more clones, calculating the time and sending them off one by one.
Sword Douluo's eyes narrowed as he witnessed this scene. It wasn't the first time he had seen Li Xun's clone technique, but each time it brought him a sense of wonder.
These clones were too realistic and agile. If Li Xun balanced the energy of the clones, even with his cultivation level, he couldn't distinguish the real from the fake.
By now, the first clone had already traveled nearly a kilometer along the vines.
Considering the long journey ahead, the clone used Ninjutsu to create a space at this location and then disappeared, returning to Li Xun's body in the form of Soul Power.
The pressure away from the ground was secondary; the main issue was the lack of air.
The second and third clones arrived one after another. After making some simple adjustments, they expanded a vent connecting to the ground and continued to descend diagonally.
This laborious task lasted nearly a day. As the sky gradually darkened, Li Xun slowly stood up from the ground.
Rubbing his sore waist, he said, "Sword Grandpa, I'm about to set off. If anything happens on the ground later, you can leave first and come back later. Don't worry about me."
"Alright, be careful," Sword Douluo nodded. Seeing Li Xun's clones diving into the ground one after another, he was no longer as concerned about Li Xun's safety.
He felt that if something unexpected happened, he might not be as safe as Li Xun.
Receiving the response, Li Xun nodded, and then his body slowly sank, disappearing along the vines.
In a dark, confined space with thin air, Li Xun attached his spiritual power to the vines and slowly extended them into the underground space of the Life Lake.
Before long, Li Xun felt a bright light. An underground world shimmering with azure light appeared before his eyes. Although his current spiritual power could only sense part of it, it was enough to astonish him.
Li Xun thought of a possibility and then controlled the vines to slowly rise. He discovered that this space and the Life Lake above seemed to be separated by an invisible film, preventing the lake water above from reaching here. The light source here was also generated by the Life Lake above.
Is it a barrier?
My main body is less than 1,500 meters away from here. Although there are thick layers of soil and rock walls blocking the way, if the movements are too large, it's hard to guarantee that I won't be detected.
Not daring to continue probing the barrier, Li Xun controlled the vines to slowly descend along the rock walls of the underground space until they reached the ground. Although the distance the vines and spiritual power extended hadn't reached his limit, he didn't dare to fully expand his spiritual power. Instead, he controlled the vines to move forward slowly like a small snake.
Suddenly...
A powerful aura emanated from not far away: "Isn't it my turn this time? Who's sneaking around again?"
Li Xun was startled and quickly severed the vines, retracting his spiritual energy back into the rock layer, quietly listening to the situation outside.
Before long, a massive figure came running over.
"Was it this plant that just caused the disturbance? Could it be that old fellow, the Ten Thousand Demon King?"
The Red King sniffed the vines carefully with his three heads but found no trace of the Ten Thousand Demon King's aura: "Heh, quite stealthy, but there's clearly a trace of spiritual energy here."
The Red King bared his teeth, picked up the vines with his mouth, and quickly ran off in a certain direction: "If that old fellow tries to deny it again, even if it disturbs the Beast God's slumber, I'll make him give an explanation."
As the Red King gradually moved away, a vine suddenly extended from the rock wall.
Li Xun sensed the departing Red King through the vine and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. He hadn't expected the first Soul Beast he encountered to be the Three-Headed Red Demon Mastiff. Fortunately, the vines he controlled hadn't come into contact with his own scent, or he might have been exposed by now.
Li Xun was about to continue his exploration but hesitated slightly before extending the vines in the direction from which the Red King had come.
He remembered that the Soul Beasts here were all absorbing the energy of the Sky Dream Iceworm. The stronger they were, the closer they were to it.
Now that the Red King was guarding this place, it was likely that the Sky Dream Iceworm was in this direction.
...…
"Bi Ji, please let me go! How can someone as beautiful as you do such a thing?"
"Look at your beautiful wings, your enchanting figure, you're practically the most beautiful incarnation of the swan clan."
"..."
"Shut up! Our clan naturally eats insects."
"..."
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Li Xun stealthily maneuvered the vines and had just reached the entrance of a massive cave when he heard a stream of chatter from inside. But it was soon interrupted by a voice that seemed to have been suppressed for a long time.
Li Xun, far away a thousand meters, smiled.
The position of the vines was too conspicuous, so Li Xun quickly retracted them, determined the direction, and opened a new path, circling into the cave of the Sky Dream Iceworm.
Inside a huge, dilapidated cave filled with claw marks.
Perhaps knowing that he was not in immediate danger, after a brief silence, the Sky Dream Iceworm began another round of endless chatter.
Although absorbing the energy emitted by the Sky Dream Iceworm was delightful, Bi Ji was also endlessly annoyed by his trash talk. After enduring for who knows how long, she finally reached her limit.
She kicked the massive body of the Sky Dream Iceworm in frustration and turned to walk out. She needed to return to her place to calm her emotions and also to hand over to the Red King.
"Hmph! Try to mess with me." The Sky Dream Iceworm squinted his eyes as he watched Bi Ji's disappearing figure, feeling much better: "This time, I only lost fifty years of cultivation, what a bargain!"
"Indeed, quite a bargain."
"Who's there?" The Sky Dream Iceworm was startled by a sudden voice in his mind, his body trembling. He quickly spread out his spiritual energy to find the source of the voice. In an instant, he discovered the vine hidden in the corner beneath him.
"Are you the one talking to me?" the Sky Dream Iceworm asked cautiously.
"It's me," Li Xun gently placed the vine on the Sky Dream Iceworm, conveying his message through spiritual energy.
"Who are you?" The Sky Dream Iceworm's eyes showed a mix of timidity and caution as he asked carefully.
"I am a human. I accidentally discovered this place and intended to explore it, but I found you quite interesting, so I thought to communicate with you. May I ask, are you the food raised by these Soul Beasts?"